Oticon Medical A/s

Yannick Vaiarello

Dan Gnansia

Pierre Stahl

Taoufik Berbouchi

Nicolas Veau

Martin Besnard

Julien Venet

Franck Mattioli

Tristan Vincent

Michel Hoen

An implantable hearing device for enhancing the hearing capability of a user is disclosed. The implantable hearing device may include: at least one housing having a top side to be substantially directed towards the skin of a user and at least one bottom side to be substantially directed opposite to the top side, at least one implant antenna element for inductively connecting the implantable hearing device to an external device via a magnetic field, in particular to at least one external hearing device. The bottom side of the at least one housing at least partly is of metallic material, and the top side of the at least one housing at least partly is of nonmetallic material. Additionally, an implantable hearing system is disclosed.

Implantable hearing device for enhancing the hearing capability of a user

A bone anchored hearing implant device for enhancing the hearing capability of a user is disclosed. The device includes at least one antenna element for receiving signals provided by an external device, in particular by at least one external hearing device, at least one modulation device for demodulating the signals received by the antenna element, at least one transducer, in particular for generating vibrations depending on the demodulated signals, at least one connection circuit for transferring the demodulated signals to the transducer, at least one protection circuit for at least partly short-circuiting the connection circuit, wherein the short-circuit at least partly prevents a transfer of the demodulated signals to the transducer. Additionally a hearing device system and a signal processing method are disclosed.

Bone anchored hearing implant device, hearing device system and signal processing method

A method and a cochlea implant system for providing reliably control and stability of the ratio between the positive charge and the capacitive discharge of an electrical pulse are disclosed. The system includes an external unit configured to receive acoustical sound and process the acoustical sound into a coded audio signal, and an implantable unit configured to receive the coded audio signal. The system further comprises a pulse generating unit configured to generate a first electrical pulse of a first pulse duration and a second electrical pulse of a second pulse duration different from the first pulse duration based on the coded audio signal. The system still further comprises an electrode array including a plurality of electrodes, wherein at least one of the plurality of electrodes is configured to receive at least the first electrical pulse and the second electrical pulse, and a capacitor connected to the at least one of the plurality of electrodes. The system still further comprises a measurement unit configured to measure, across the connection of the at least one of the plurality of electrodes and the capacitor, a first voltage based on the first electrical pulse and a second voltage based on the second electrical pulse. The system still further comprises an evaluation unit configured to calculate a voltage difference between the measured first and second voltages.

Cochlea implant system with measurement unit

A cochlear implant system is disclosed. The system includes a power management unit that is configured to determine a stimulation power consumption of the implantable unit for providing the plurality of stimulation pulses of the stimulation frame to the auditory nerve fibers of the recipient. The determine of the stimulation power consumption of the implantable unit may be based on the plurality of stimulation pulses determined by the external unit, and more specifically, determined by a sound processor arranged within the external unit and/or the implantable unit. The plurality of stimulation pulses may be communicated to the power management unit. Furthermore, the power management unit may be configured to determine a power consumption stage of the implantable unit.

Power regulation of a cochlear implant system

An implantable battery device is disclosed, which comprises a battery, a first antenna, a second antenna, and a driving unit. The first antenna is configured to inductively supply energy from the battery to a first device and to transmit information received from a processing unit to the first device. The second antenna is provided for wireless communication with a second device. The driving unit is configured to operate the first antenna according to control signals received from the processing unit. The processing unit is configured to transmit control signals to the driving unit to control the inductive supply of energy to the first device, to receive information via the second antenna from the second device, and to transmit information received via the second antenna from the second device to the first device via the first antenna driven by the driving unit.

Implantable battery device for standard cochlear implant

A hearing device for use with a cochlear implant system is disclosed. An input portion receives, as a stimulus, an acoustic signal, converts the acoustic signal into an electrical acoustic signal and provides the electrical acoustic signal. A processing portion processes the electrical acoustic signal and conducts an active grounding procedure. An implant portion being implantable at least partially in a cochlea of the user comprises a plurality of operation electrodes and a reference electrode, e.g. an external electrode being grounded and implantable outside of the cochlea of the user. The operation electrodes are driven by the processing portion on the basis of the electric acoustic signal. An electrode state setting section sets the plurality of operation electrodes into one of a high impedance state, a grounded state and a stimulating state in which a signal based on the electric acoustic signal is supplied to a stimulation electrode of the plurality of operation electrodes. An electrode state setting pattern determining section selects, according to an operation mode of the cochlear implant system, one of a plurality of electrode state setting patterns, wherein each of the electrode state setting patterns is adapted to enable a stimulation by a stimulation electrode of the plurality of operation electrodes being in a stimulating state and at least one of the plurality of operation electrodes being in a grounded state or in a high impedance state. The electrode state setting section sets the plurality of operation electrodes into the specified electrode state according to the selected electrode state setting pattern.

Growing community of inventors

Vallauris, France

Yannick Vaiarello